Train Depot c.1928:

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Railroads have played an essential part in Punta Gorda's development. The story began when Colonel Issac Hogden Trabue, the town's founder, offered half of his land to the Florida Southern Railroad so they would lay tracks through what was then called "Trabue" and build a hotel. When the city became incorporated in 1887, its name changed to Punta Gorda.

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With the railroad's arrival in 1886, the impressive 135-room Hotel Punta Gorda opened two years later. The King Street Pier was built near the hotel at the base of King Street (now US-41N), where trains reversed onto the pier so passengers could step off luxurious Pullman cars right by the hotel. Fishing company sheds lined the pier, and fish packed with ice from the nearby Ice Plant were loaded onto northbound freight trains. In 1920 alone, Punta Gorda shipped out more than seven million pounds of fish. Trains also transported timber, turpentine, pineapples grown in Solana, and phosphate mined along the Peace River.

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Since Charlotte Harbor was too shallow for ocean-going ships, a separate dock—known as the Long Dock—extended three-quarters of a mile into the harbor, allowing trains to reach waters deep enough for seagoing vessels. From there, steamboats sailed to destinations as distant as Cuba and New Orleans. Today, much of Linear Park traces the path of the old tracks leading to the Long Dock.

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In 1925, Barron G. Collier purchased and renovated the old Hotel Punta Gorda, renaming it Hotel Charlotte Harbor. Noting that proximity to noisy trains and pungent fish could deter guests, Collier persuaded the city to relocate these operations elsewhere. This led to the construction of a new City Fish Dock on Maud Street and the building of the Barron G. Collier bridge across Charlotte Harbor. He also funded street improvements—including wider roads and ornate lighting—around the hotel's block, now a vacant lot between US-41N and Taylor Street.

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The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company built the ACL Train Depot at 1009 Taylor Road in 1928, preferring a mainline station over a side spur down King Street. Its Mediterranean Revival architecture matched other local landmarks, such as the Punta Gorda Woman's Club Building and several other ACL depots—though the Punta Gorda depot is the only one of its kind remaining.

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Despite being completed during tough economic times—the end of Florida's Land Boom and just before the Great Depression—the Depot remained vital for both travelers and commerce. Eventually, modern highways, trucks, and planes replaced trains for travel and freight, ending passenger service at the Depot in 1971, with freight service ceasing soon after.

Fred Babcock purchased the building after it closed, intending to convert it into a restaurant, and later willed it to the Punta Gorda Historical Society (PGHS). Volunteers restored the Depot, maintaining its historically accurate segregated facilities to reflect practices from its period of operation—a reminder of the Jim Crow era.

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On December 12, 1990, the Train Depot was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. To help cover maintenance, PGHS leases the Depot to Downtown Kava (DTK), whose owners have successfully preserved the building's heritage and allowed visitors to experience its history firsthand.